Putnam looks to rebound against North Shelby

Comment

By Ryan Ronan @RyanRonan_KDE

Hannibal Courier - Post - Hannibal, MO

By Ryan Ronan @RyanRonan_KDE

Posted Oct. 10, 2013 at 10:18 AM

By Ryan Ronan @RyanRonan_KDE
Posted Oct. 10, 2013 at 10:18 AM

Putnam County went up 12-0 last week on Knox County and was looking to put together a two-game winning streak for the first time in a handful of years. Things didn’t go the Midgets way in the second half as the Eagles scored 24 unanswered points in coming back to spoil PC’s homecoming.

Putnam was playing without senior quarterback Jacob Parker, who injured his ankle in the Midgets Week 5 win over Schuyler County. Freshman QB Calvin Heidenwidth got his first career start and was bitten by some bad luck. The PC offense had two touchdowns called back, and Heidenwith threw a pick six after the ball went off his receiver’s hands and then was tipped by a KC defender before it was caught and returned for six.

“We kind of self destructed last week. I’m not going to say we should have won, but we had our chances and weren’t able to take advantage of them,” said Putnam County head coach Dave Cavanah.

Cavanah and his staff are still unsure of the status of Parker for Friday night’s match-up with North Shelby.

“He looked better Wednesday night than he did Tuesday night, and we are hoping he looks better tomorrow Thursday night, but at this point we aren’t sure if he will be able to play,” said Cavanah.

The Midgets believe that Heidwnwith is the future of the program and if the team can minimize the mistakes they made last week he can be successful now.

“We have a lot of confidence in Calvin. He played really well last week. I feel like if we go out there and keep things together and don’t try to hit home runs, we can be successful,” said Cavanah.

The Raiders are in the midst of their fourth straight winless season, however they have made strides not just this season, but also the past two weeks. Against Scotland County they forced four Tiger turnovers in a 34-12 loss. Last week was as close as they have come to a win in recent memory. They pushed Schuyler County to overtime and the Rams needed 250 yards and five touchdowns from Zach Schmitter to win. Making sure you’re not the team that becomes the “one” is playing on the mind of PC.

“We don’t want to be the one that they break the one against. We have talked to our kids about that and how they are much improved, but also you can’t think about that stuff too much or you forget to come out and just play,” said Cavanah.

Stopping the NS running attack will be key for the Midgets.

Page 2 of 2 - “I feel they are a lot like us, and if they find something that works they are going to keep going back to it. They have a strong running back and we need to know where he is at all times,” said Cavanah.

Parker is also the Midgets starting inside linebacker so his presence would be missed on both sides of the ball.